View full sizeFormer Alabama All-American football player Lee Roy Jordan will speak at the Bishop State Community College Foundation's annual gala at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 14, 2013. (Birmingham News file)

MOBILE, Alabama - A few tickets remain to hear former Alabama All-American football player Lee Roy Jordan as the keynote speaker at the Bishop State Community College Foundation's annual gala on Thursday night.

Tickets for the dinner cost $100 and can be purchased at the Bishop State bookstore at 351 N. Broad St. in Mobile.

The foundation's gala is set for 7 p.m. Thursday in the Yvonne Kennedy Auditorium on the Baker-Gaines Central Campus of BCCC.

Proceeds from the event support scholarships in an initiative called EPECS, which stands for engineering, physics, economics and computer science. EPECS is part of Bishop State's STEM - science, technology, engineering and math - program.

Last year, former Alabama football coach Gene Stallings was the speaker for the BSCC Foundation event.

Jordan is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame. The Excel native played at Alabama from 1960 through 1962 and was a two-way star at linebacker and center.

He helped Alabama gain its first finish atop the final polls in 1961, when the Crimson Tide went 11-0 and gave up 25 points the entire season.

In 1962, when Alabama posted a 10-1 record, Jordan was a unanimous All-American and finished fourth in the Heisman Trophy balloting.

He capped his collegiate career by making 31 tackles and earning the MVP honor for the Orange Bowl in Alabama's 17-0 victory over Oklahoma. It was Jordan's second bowl MVP award: He also earned the honor in Alabama's 3-3 tie with Texas in the 1960 Bluebonnet Bowl.

Jordan went on to play 14 years in the NFL as a linebacker for the Dallas Cowboys. He was a five-time Pro Bowl selection and helped the Cowboys beat the Miami Dolphins 24-3 in Super Bowl VI after the 1971 season. Jordan is a member of the Cowboys' Ring of Honor.